It is a great pleasure, indeed, a high
honor of mine that I will have the opportunity to serve you as the Chair of our
association in the next two years, starting on January 1, 2012.
Since its
establishment in 1996, AEARU has developed and become one of the most active
organizations that brought together the leaders of elite research universities
in East Asia; provided us with a network through which we communicated and
cooperated with each other.
Looking back, we can say that all of us
have invested a great deal of our time and effort to cultivate and strengthen
cooperative spirit within our Association. We not only met periodically to discuss
and share our ideas on the management, as well as the promotion of AEARU;
member-universities have also volunteered their time and expertise to organize and
sponsor workshops, seminars that allowed our faculty members to exchange their
research findings and explore the possibility for joint research endeavors. Moreover,
we have also provided opportunities, through various programs for our students
to meet, interact and learn from each other. In short, collectively we owe a big
thanks to all who have served as officers of our association previously. It was
due to their devotion and efforts that we can sit here today and reflect on
what we have accomplished with a smile and a sense of satisfaction.
While we might all be very happy with what
we have done so far, may I also take this opportunity to invite you to think
about what else we can do in the future. What can we do as a group that will
further strengthen our organization and provide more opportunities to a larger
and larger number of our colleagues and students for them to collaborate and
learn from each other? For example, can we think of some ways that will allow us
to keep all our colleagues and students better informed on the new academic
programs, research initiatives and accomplishments that are developing in all
of our campuses? Many, if not all of us have bilateral student-exchange arrangements
with other member-universities, but, is it desirable for AEARU to design a
program through which students from one university can easily enroll and study
for a semester or so on other AEARU campus? Shall we promote an AEARU open
courseware program? Is it beneficial to establish an AEARU Lectureship so that
the chosen scholars can get together to hold an Academic Festival on significant
occasions?
I don’t mean to layout new agenda for the
years to come. What I really wish to do is simply offering some examples that
we can ponder, as a group, and find additional mechanisms that will allow us to
better serve our colleagues and students alike.
I look forward to working with you.
Together, I am sure, we can further enhance our Association in the years to
come.